Samuel Mockbee and renvisioning domestic forms in direct response to his world.

 Woo its Samuel Mockbee week! 

    This is purely an appreciation blog for the things that Samuel Mockbee has done and the interesting architecture that has been produced through his studio creating unique, site specific forms that respond directly to their surroundings and people that inhabit them. I love the way that he has completely plugged himself into the community where these designs are being made and listens to the community. There is often talk of toxic charity where people drive into a community, plop something they “think” the community needs and leave without engaging the community or finding out the community's real needs before adding something. This is the opposite of that. Mockbee instead, moves his entire studio into this area and has been creating projects in this specific community for multiple years (branching out here and there to do particular projects) and the engagement of the client and community at a wider scope is prevalent when one looks at the type of architecture that is created by Mockbee and his students. The designs take into account the weather, sun path, and wind that often sweeps through these homes that assist with passive cooling in the warm months of Alabama. Below I have added a few images that I believe, exemplify these strategies of directly listening to the clients and responding to the site in ways that benefit the design both aesthetically and functionally.

Cheers, 

H